


Just Like Elton John (The Rocketman)

by sansets



Category: Crooked Media RPF
Genre: Astronauts, M/M, Mars, Ronan Farrow's complicated feelings about marriage, Space Flight, alternate universe - timeline, blink and you'll miss it crossover with The Martian, guys I just have a LOT of feelings about space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:56:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21828442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sansets/pseuds/sansets
Summary: “I honestly thought we’d stopped dreaming about space,” Jon said softly, his head leaning on Ronan’s shoulder. “I would have given anything as a kid to have applied to be an astronaut, but it just seemed so pointless when we weren’t doing actual space exploration any more.”Ronan sat up, catching Jon’s head before it hit the desk behind them. “You should apply,” he said, trying to tamp down on what felt like a massive case of the crazy eyes. “I’m serious. Hollywood doesn’t deserve you.”Ronan proposes on Mars. This is how they got there.
Relationships: Ronan Farrow/Jon Lovett
Comments: 7
Kudos: 49
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Just Like Elton John (The Rocketman)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [litalex](https://archiveofourown.org/users/litalex/gifts).

> Thank you so much to A for making this a billion times better than it would have otherwise been! Title from Nerf Herder's 'Life on Mars' 
> 
> This fic is for Little Alex's request to make sense of Ronan's feelings about proposing. It kind of turned into a love letter about space, and friendship, and the way that your relationships can push you to reach your dreams. I couldn't reconcile anything about our current reality with a reality where Ronan and Lovett were among the first astronauts to step foot on Mars, so I’ve pushed all of our pod boys and SOs birthdays forward 8 years to get to a place where I could envision a reality where that could be true. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Happy Yuletide!

**October 16, 2029 - Mars**

The third evening that they spent on Mars (Ronan might never stop being in awe of the fact that they were on Mars, everything sounded inherently more exciting when you added ‘on Mars’ to the end of a sentence) Jon tapped Ronan on the shoulder as he finished his sample collections. “Come watch the sunset with me,” Jon said, and Ronan couldn’t help the smile that crept over his face as he followed Jon to a blanket with a telescope set up. 

“It doesn’t feel right stargazing without Pundit trying to eat our picnic,” Ronan said as he took Jon’s gallantly offered hand to assist him in sitting down.

“That’s it, the next Mars mission we are demanding spacesuits designed for dogs, and we are not going until we get them!” Jon said, shaking his fist in the air.

Ronan laughed. “Even you aren’t going to be able to solve the atmosphere problem to let us actually picnic on Mars.”

“Will you accept something really cool as a trade?” Jon said, handing Ronan the hand-held telescope.

Jon guided Ronan’s hand as Ronan focused the lens and Ronan couldn’t help the tiny gasp that escaped him. “Is that Earth?”

“Doesn’t it look so tiny, floating in the stars over there? And doesn’t it look so right and so perfect where it is?”

Ronan smiled and continued looking through the telescope. “Thank you for making me take a break and look at this. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss this for the world.”

**April 1, 2021 - Washington DC**

Ronan nervously unlocked his phone to read his e-mail when he got the alert. He closed the e-mail app as quickly as soon as he opened it.

“Shannon,” Ronan said while covering his eyes with his hand. “There is an e-mail from NASA in there. Can you please read it for me?”

Shannon sighed dramatically and took his phone away from him. “Shouldn’t this be a sign that you’re not ready to be an astronaut if you’re not even able to open a damn e-mail by yourself?” She paused, reading the e-mail twice, and a smile broke out across her face. “Congratulations, you will be following a boy you like to NASA. It’s like Felicity, but for nerds!”

**July 18, 2028 - Houston**

The press liked to make a big deal out of Ronan’s background in the State Department (“First Diplomat In Space Proof of Extraterrestrial Life?” one New York Times headline blasted) but Ronan was excited to get to use his biology degree. Mia had convinced him to stick with it, even after he came home in tears from classes one day because he would probably never get to discover anything new. 

“Oh Ronan,” she’d said, carding his hair with her fingers. “It’s enough that you have this capacity to care. You’ll make your mark in some way if you stick with it, I just know it.”

And now, 20 years later, he got to prove her right. And he was going to do it with Jonathan at his side. 

“We’re going to be on the very first Ares mission!” Jon said with pride.

“I know,” Ronan said, grin splitting his face from ear to ear. “Wasn’t this totally worth giving up Hollywood for?” 

**November 15, 2018 - Washington DC**

When President Clinton had announced that she was expanding the space program in anticipation of a manned mission to Mars, the two of them had stayed up until the small hours of the morning talking about their childhood dreams of space exploration. 

“I honestly thought we’d stopped dreaming about space,” Jon said softly, his head leaning on Ronan’s shoulder. “I would have given anything as a kid to have applied to be an astronaut, but it just seemed so pointless when we weren’t doing actual space exploration any more.”

Ronan sat up, catching Jon’s head before it hit the desk behind them. “You should apply,” he said, trying to tamp down on what felt like a massive case of the crazy eyes. “I’m serious. Hollywood doesn’t deserve you.”

Ronan had felt honored to have been the first person that Jon had told that he was thinking about leaving the White House to work in Hollywood. And he even thought that he’d seen where Jon’s true passion lay, when he saw Jon’s eyes lighting up talking about writing for television. But it wasn’t until hearing the quiet pain in Jon’s voice when he talked about a dream that he thought was impossible that Ronan truly felt he had a read on what made Jonathan Ira Lovett tick. 

**February 1, 2003 - Connecticut**

Ronan was seven years old when the space shuttle Columbia exploded. He became morbidly fascinated with the tragedy, reading endless reports about catastrophic failures and possible cover-ups. Later he would realize that the reason why this held such a significance in his life was because he had interpreted it as the end of a dream, as the final death blow of a space program that had all but faded from public attention. But at the time, all he knew was that people had died doing a thing that Ronan had dreamed of doing one day, and he wanted to understand why. 

(Later still, he and Jonathan would talk about the Columbia as a pivotal moment in their dreams of space flight. For twelve year old Jon, seeing the confused government response to the tragedy was a moment when working in politics became something that could replace that dream of space exploration. Ronan wasn’t ever sure that his own government work had done that, but that was part of what he loved about Jon - that when faced with such incredible tragedy, his first response was to figure out what the most useful thing he could to work toward preventing such a thing from ever happening again.)

**April 1, 2021 - Washington DC**

Ronan called Jon, torn between wanting to hear his voice and wanting to leave the news on voicemail to avoid the possibility of hearing rejection in Jon’s voice. They had talked about applying to NASA together, but Ronan had waited a year so that he could wrap up his project with the State Department. They spent this past year, Jon in Houston, Ronan in DC, texting non-stop about everything except for their relationship. Although it felt to Ronan like that frisson of possibility was still there, assuming he wasn’t reading too much into flirty texts.

“I’m shocked that you actually remembered that the tiny computer in your pocket had the ability to make a phone call,” Jon teased when he picked up. “Have I finally convinced you to come over to the Dark Side and use your phone as a phone?”

Ronan felt his face break out into a helpless smile. “Only for big news, I promise I’m not turning over a new leaf.”

“I saw that they were supposed to send out the results for the new training class admissions today,” Jon said, sounding studiously casual. “Am I talking to a member of the class of 2023?”

“You are,” Ronan responded, attempting to match Jon’s casual tone. “I’m probably going to come down in a few weeks to go apartment hunting, do you want to meet up for lunch?”

“It’s a date,” Jon said. Ronan felt the smile on his face grow larger, until Jon started rambling, apparently nervous about Ronan’s silence, “Or not! Not a date-date, you probably just want to have lunch,” he continued so quickly that it took Ronan a few seconds to parse.

“No!” Ronan blurted out. “I mean, unless you -”

“No,” Jon said, overlapping with Ronan’s voice. “If you haven’t decided that you can do better than me, I’m certainly not going to be the one to disabuse you of that notion.”

“Jonathan,” Ronan said, feeling his heart burst with the same joy that he felt when Shannon told him that the e-mail had said that he was accepted into the training program. “They would literally have to send me on a one-way trip to Mars to keep me away.”

“Just away from the training program?” Jon asked, tentatively teasing.

“Well. Mostly the training program. But you are a pretty big draw yourself.” 

**October 16, 2029 - Mars**

“Don’t we need to go upload our stats for Priyanka?” Ronan half-heartedly protested as he let Jon pull him back into his arms to lay down more fully on the solar blanket. 

Jon laughed, settling them both in to watch the sky start to turn its magnificent blue. “Don’t worry, I promised her that, in exchange for the late upload, we’d help her with the analysis tomorrow.”

“We?” Ronan queried, raising an eyebrow. “And what gave you the authority to promise my time like that?”

“I figured the fact that we promised each other that we were in it for the long haul,” Jon said easily, giving Ronan a quick hug. “Or at least until they make weddings available on those lunar bases. Then all bets are off.”

The words reverberated around Ronan’s skull while he tried to enjoy the beauty of a Martian sunset. He knew that Jon would have married him ages ago, that Ronan was the deterrent here. But somehow, compared to the enormity of space, of what they were accomplishing together, Ronan’s lingering fears about marriage seemed quite small. 

**August 3, 2019 - Washington DC**

Ronan and Jon’s first kiss didn’t happen until the night before Jon was due to leave for Houston. Ronan stopped by 13bro9, waved to Tommy and Favs in the living room, and headed up to Jon’s room to see if there was anything that he could help out with. But surprisingly, Jon had everything all packed up, and was sitting still on top of his bed, head in his hands.

“Everything OK, Jonathan?” Ronan asked, the endearment slipping out despite himself. 

“Can I really do this?” Jon asked, looking down at the floor. “Am I going to come back six months from now, begging for my job back, because I couldn’t cut it?”

“You can absolutely do this,” Ronan said, sitting down on the floor below Jon so that he could look up at him. “And if you can’t, Hollywood is always waiting.”

Jon laughed that that surprised laugh that Ronan always loved. “How do you make it sound that easy?”

“Because it’s you,” Ronan said earnestly, trying not to let his feelings show through. “You can do it, if that’s what you want.”

Jon studied Ronan’s face, and then said “Fuck it. If I’m leaving tomorrow, I might as well.” And he leaned down and kissed Ronan, a long, deep kiss that made Ronan wonder why he had been afraid to try that earlier.

“Can we please do that again?” Ronan said.

“As often as you want for the next 12 hours,” Jon agreed, looking about as dazed and happy as Ronan felt.

**June 16, 2027 - Maine**

“So when are you and Lovett planning on tying the knot?” Tommy’s mom asked Ronan as Jon led Hanna around the dance floor at Favreau and Emily’s wedding rehearsal, the smoke from the bonfire crackling in the distance.

“We’ll get there eventually,” Ronan said vaguely, and wished the floor would open up and swallow him whole.

“Mom,” Tommy said, cutting in and making a face behind his mother’s head at Ronan. “You can’t just ask a person that!” Tommy turned to Ronan. “Come on, Emily’s mom wants a picture of the Clinton White House alums.”

“But there’s no sense in wasting time,” Tommy’s mom protested as Tommy led Ronan away. “You know how little time we had with your father in the end. The only thing I regret is not marrying him sooner.”

“Thank you,” Ronan said to Tommy as they walked into an empty room that Emily’s mom clearly wasn’t in. “It wasn’t necessary to lie to your mom for me, but I appreciate it.”

“You were looking at little panicked,” Tommy said, giving Ronan a fistbump. “You’d do the same for me.”

They stood together in companionable silence before Tommy cleared his throat. “I don’t want to pry,” he said, “but it does seem like you guys are together for the long haul. Is Lovett getting cold feet? Because I can beat him up for you if you want.”

Ronan laughed hollowly. “No, Jonathan isn’t the problem here.”

“So what is it?” Tommy asked with a bluntness that Ronan would only take from a friend as close as Tommy.

“It’s me,” Ronan said, his voice cracking. “Because every few years my fucking sperm donar is in the news when he’s making a new film instead of being shamed out of working ever again. Because even when I worked at the State Department, it was always ‘Ronan Farrow, son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen’ in every story, even ones about the policies that we were proposing that helped to save kids’ lives. Because I want to prove that this is a thing that we can do together, equally, and not have him be hindered by being ‘Ronan Farrow’s partner’ instead of ‘Jonathan Lovett, the best astronaut in all of NASA.’”

“Ronan,” Tommy said, looking at Ronan with compassion. “You guys don’t ever have to get married if you don’t want. But my mom wasn’t wrong when she said that you only get so much time together, and I think you should ask Lovett if he’d ever think of being with you as a hindrance. Look, Ronan,” Tommy continued as Ronan attempted to interrupt, not sure what he wanted to say but feeling as though he ought to object, “If marriage isn’t a thing that you’re doing together, then what is even the point?”

Ronan nodded shakily as Tommy clapped him on the shoulder in a move that Jon always called the ‘Classic Boston Bro.’ “Come on. I’ll shield you from my mom for the rest of the night if you grab me another drink from the bar.”

**June 13, 2023 - Houston**

“Jonathan,” Ronan said laughing. “Aren’t picnics traditionally supposed to happen during the day, so that we can see what we’re eating?”

“That’s just homophobic, Ronan,” Jon said prissily, clutching the over-sized picnic basket in his hands as they climbed up the hill. “Come on, we’re almost there.”

As they rounded the bend on the trail to reach the top of the hill, Ronan gasped once they stepped out of the trees. “The sky is just stunning.”

“This is the best spot within a normal driving distance to get away from most of the light pollution,” Jon said, sounding pleased. “Which is why I also brought the telescope with us.” He reached into the basket and pulled out the telescope, brandishing it like a sword. “I thought we could celebrate your graduation from training by looking at Mars together.”

Ronan took the telescope from Jon’s excitedly gesticulating hand, and put it gently on the ground. “Thank you for this,” he said, pulling Jon in for a deep kiss. “This is perfect.”

**April 7, 2026 - Houston**

Ronan let himself in Jon’s apartment and checked the time. “Assuming I didn’t misread his schedule,” he said to the goldendoodle in his arms. “Jonathan should be home any minute now. I think you’ll like him.”

Ronan felt his heart start to pound with nerves as he heard Jon’s key in the lock. Jon stopped when he saw Ronan sitting on his couch.

“Did I forget about a date?” Jon said, wincing as he checked his calendar on his phone. “I’m so sorry, I’ll go - oh. Who is _this_ lovely girl?” he crooned, Ronan’s heart bursting with affection at the joy in Jon’s voice upon seeing the dog in Ronan’s lap.

“This is Pundit,” Ronan said, and he felt his nerves start to lift. “You didn’t forget anything, I just wanted to bring this lovely lady over to meet you.” 

“Is it my birthday?” Jon asked as he sat down on the couch next to Ronan and picked Pundit up off of his lap. “You’re in a suit and you brought me a dog to snuggle? What did I do to deserve this?”

Ronan watched as Pundit curled up in Jon’s arms like they were made for each other, and feels a fond smile spread across his face. “I had a question I wanted to ask you.”

“And you forgot how to use a phone?” Jon replies, distracted. “Hi, Ms. Pundit, how are you doing today?”

Ronan felt his heart seize with love watching Jon fall in love with the dog, and he forgot his entire planned speech. After a few minutes of silence on Ronan’s end, Jon looked up from where he had leaned back into the couch. “If you bought me a dog to break up with me, I am keying your car.” Ronan wondered if Jon was conscious of the fact that he was clutching Pundit tighter to his chest.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” Ronan said dryly. “I was thinking about the opposite of that.”

“The opposite of me keying your car?” Jon asked, confused. 

“I am doing this entirely wrong.” Ronan got up from the couch and started pacing. Jon and Pundit both started tracking him with their eyes. “Even though I don’t know how I feel about marriage, move in with me? Raise this adorable dog with me? I want to be with you long-term, in whatever way that looks like, no matter what our mothers might think.”

“Ronan,” Jon said, standing up to put the arm that wasn’t holding Pundit around Ronan’s waist to stop his pacing, “As long as we’re doing it together, I’m in.”

**July 28, 2028 - California**

By the time that Hanna and Tommy’s wedding rolled around, Ronan had braced himself for the possibility of being ambushed by more well-meaning mothers about his love life. He had his answer prepared, that what he and Jonathan had decided for their own lives was their own business, and they were very happy. Except that it turned out that a large wedding in Napa Valley was way more hectic than the intimate affair that Favreau and Emily had in Maine, and Ronan didn’t wind up being asked about it once.

“I don’t know why you’re so miffed about it,” Jon said that night in bed, attempting to fluff the hotel pillows into something resembling a supportive state. “You over-prepare for everything, I don’t know why this is any different.”

As Ronan fell asleep that night in Jon’s arms, he realized that part of why he was disappointed was because he had wanted to show everyone that their way was just as valid as their friends’ way. Which, in the end, didn’t feel as satisfying a gotcha as Ronan might have hoped, because if he truly thought that their way was as good as everyone else’s, would he have really needed to prove it by badgering Tommy’s mother?

**October 16, 2029 - Mars**

As the sun set a deep blue, Ronan made up his mind. “Jonathan,” Ronan said, his voice cracking, but feeling more sure about this than he’d felt about anything since joining NASA, “I know that we said that marriage was out of the cards anytime before that lunar colony got finished up.”

“Absolutely,” Jon responded without missing a beat. “If Pundit can’t be our doggie ring bearer with a cloud of moon dust following her around down the aisle, then what’s the point?”

“The thing is,” Ronan said, turning around to face Jon. “All of the reasons we were waiting for seem really small and tiny compared to the enormity of all this.” 

“Ronan,” Jon breathed, and Ronan tensed, waiting. “If you’re asking me to marry you, obviously the answer is yes.”

“Jonathan Ira Lovett,” Ronan said, feeling a smile start to creep across his face, “What do you think about marriage?”

“Sure,” Jon said, taking Ronan’s hand and clutching it. “I think I could do that.”

Ronan leaned in to kiss Jon in happiness and felt his face mask bounce off of Jon’s. “I just realized that proposing out here was really stupid,” he said, rubbing his mask ruefully. 

“I’ll race you back to the HAB,” Jon said. “And when I win, you’ll have to listen to my entire rendition of ‘I’ll marry you on the moon’ which is my Dr. Seuss homage to your proposal.”

Ronan started laughing as Jon started reciting “I’ll marry you on the moon, I’ll marry you very soon. I’ll marry you in outer space, I’ll marry you any place!” while picking the blanket up off the dirt and mock prepping himself in a runner’s start position, his obvious joy carrying the joke to a much funnier place than it otherwise might have been. 

“Or we could just walk,” Ronan said, picking up his box of samples, “because I have this box of samples to carry, and you would win.”

Jon laughed, his joy radiating through the radio. “We can walk together. That sounds perfect.”


End file.
